We at WasteZero are grateful to Paul Cienniwa for raising several valuable questions in his open letter to WasteZero published in The Herald News (“The unanswered questions about PAYT,” July 7).

We would like to take the opportunity to answer those questions here. Because Fall River’s new pay-as-you-throw program will help the city significantly reduce waste and increase recycling — saving money and generating revenue that will help fund a range of public services — we take seriously our responsibility to make sure residents’ questions are addressed.

“How will WasteZero’s program encourage city residents to keep their neighborhood clean?”

In our experience over more than 20 years with hundreds of cities and towns, as pay-as-you-throw communities decrease their residential trash, they also take greater care with stray litter. For example, former Worcester Public Works Commissioner Bob Moylan, who ran his city’s PAYT program for 20 years, told the Fall River City Council in February that litter in his city declined significantly after PAYT began.

“The standard kitchen model trash can is 13 gallons, but your bags are larger than that. Should I assume that I will continue to buy plastic bags to then put into your plastic bags?”

Fall River residents will have a choice of three bag sizes: 30-gallon, 15-gallon and 8-gallon. Depending on their disposal patterns, people in PAYT communities can handle their bags in many different ways. For example, some people who use 30-gallon bags choose to collect their trash inside the house in plastic grocery bags they already have, then they put those in the PAYT bag for collection in the green cart. Others who use the smaller PAYT bags simply collect their household trash inside in the 15- or 8-gallon bag and then close it up and put that in the green cart on collection day.

“How does WasteZero’s program with Fall River address the issue of volume versus weight?”

Each bag has a recommended weight limit. For the 30-gallon bag, we recommend that the weight not exceed 25 pounds; for the 15-gallon bag, 15 pounds; and for the 8-gallon bag, 10 pounds.

Thank you for the questions, and for giving us the opportunity to help clarify these details about how the program will operate.